- A lobby group has reportedly backed Melbourne council’s vote on Australia Day
- Social Justice in Early Childhood group have reportedly backed Yarra council
- City of Yarra voted to not have to acknowledge Australia Day on January 26
Activist educators are pushing in support daycare centre’s and pre-schools not celebrating Australia Day.
Activists in lobby group Social Justice In Early Childhood are reported to have backed the City of Yarra’s decision, in Melbourne, to not celebrate Australia Day because it is a sensitive event among indigenous communities.
The City of Yarra voted to stop acknowledging Australia Day on January 26 this week and the North Fitzroy Childcare Co-operative are reported to not celebrate the event, according to The Australian.
Activists from lobby group Social Justice in Early Childhood have reportedly backed the decision for some childcare centres to not acknowledge Australia Day
Workers from childcare centre’s posted on the lobby group’s Facebook page and some claimed to not acknowledge the day (Stock Image)
The lobby group has around 4,500 members and is run by prominent academics from the University of Sydney early childhood lecturer and author Red Ruby Scarlet and New South Wales TAFE educator Kathy Gelding.
A worker of an unknown childcare centre wrote on one of the lobby group’s Facebook posts claiming ‘We never have. We’re in Yarra Council’, according to the publication.
Other childcare workers came out online to support not acknowledging January 26 as Australia Day, but rather use it as a day of educating children of what occurred on the arrival of the First Fleet.
‘I’ve always taken this day as day to speak the truth about Jan 26th…. that there were already people living here and unfortunately a lot were killed,’ another comment read on Facebook.
Other childcare workers came out online to support not acknowledging January 26 as Australia Day (Stock Image)
‘You have the right to teach best practice, don’t wait for permission, be the change you want to see. And my advice, use this day as an educational day to teach the truth.’
Celebrating Australia Day on January 26 has become an important topic in recent years with many Australians believing the date should be acknowledged as ‘survival’ or ‘invasion day’ since it marks the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788.
Daily Mail Australia has reached out to the North Fitzroy Childcare Co-operative for comment.